I came across a really interesting article on Ministry of Type (via kottke.org) about the UI that was developed for the Xerox Star computer way back in 1981.

In it, Aegir (what a rad name) discusses the minute details that designers of the interface needed to account for when creating the graphics. Because of the limitations of the black & white display device used in the Star, the icons they created needed to account for the dithered hash pattern they used to create a gray colored background. He goes on to detail why it’s not only good but essentially necessary for all designers to know the limitations of the device/situation they are designing for. And I 100% concur.

He also discusses how with some updated graphics, the desktop UI model pioneered by the Star would essentially be the same as any of our modern operating systems UIs. And that got me thinking about timeless design, or the situation where you find a great solution to design problem. Is this it? Is the desktop model the best we can do? 1981. That’s nearly 30 years ago! And as much as people have complained about the desktop metaphor as a user interface a part of me knows those designers at Xerox PARC came up with a rather elegant solution to the problem of interfacing with and manipulating virtual files.

So, to my point for this post: is there such a thing as getting it right the first time? In our consumer culture it seems to me that we are constantly going back to the drawing board, revising, iterating, re-developing things we use all the time to make them more efficient, sexier, better. But if you look around you can also see examples of models that haven’t really changed since their inception – only been revised. The desktop UI. The car. The mouse. The camera. There are numerous examples.

I think though, it’s a testament to human ingenuity that we keep at it, despite how many times we might arrive at the same conclusion. Because sometimes a new idea does come up, and in that instance, we have innovation.